Tuesday, September 23, 2008

These are nerve-wracking financial times. A $700 billion proposed bail-out for Wall Street, 401ks and other personal investments in trouble, gas - expensive, groceries - expensive, continuing lay-offs, people losing their houses. When I think about it, it makes me want to bury my head in the sand.

What does our country's financial mess have to do with fried green tomatoes? On a personal level, it's about conserving. Conserving our money and using what we have. Growing a garden and eating from it. Groceries cost more these days - the fridge grows emptier as we wait for the next payday, so it's time to get creative.

Thus, fried green tomatoes are on the menu. We have several tomatoes sitting on the vine for about 2 weeks, but not ripening. Why, I don't know (if you have any theories, I welcome them!). But I got tired of seeing them becoming weather damaged as I waited for them to grow red.

I looked up a recipe here and we had fried green tomatoes for the first time ever. They were excellent. The kids didn't eat them, but maybe they'll grow to like them.

Don't get me wrong, we're not starving, but I feel like I'm in "watching pennies" mode. These odd financial times are creating a synergism of being "green" and budget conscious in our household. Do you feel the same way?

We've been doing more penny watching. Not too long ago we separated out food, clothing, target trips, eating out, etc. into a different checking account. We deposit $ every week on Friday, and it seems that by Sunday or Monday it is spent and we are waiting for the next Friday to come around.

This is Me

About

Welcome to "Striving Green", the blog that focuses on one family's attempt to become more environmentally friendly by the standbys - eating organically, keeping it local, reusing, reducing, and recycling. I call this blog "Striving Green", with an emphasis on the "striving". We're not perfect; we're learning as we go along.

I'll tell about the "green" successes and challenges we have with day-to-day issues as well as new discoveries I stumble upon. I'll pose questions to readers, looking for your thoughts and suggestions on how to improve upon reducing our consumption of resources. Sharing information and "making ripples" is something I enjoy. I hope you enjoy reading and become inspired to "strive green" too.